


The War Begins With You and Me

by Zimra



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 09:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6605152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zimra/pseuds/Zimra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andromeda and Ted's first date attracts some unwanted attention from their peers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The War Begins With You and Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [etoilecourageuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilecourageuse/gifts).



_March 1969_

On the morning of her first date with Ted Tonks, Andromeda Black left her dormitory without speaking to anyone and hurried through the chilly splendor of the Slytherin common room, anxious to get away before she ran into anybody she knew. She spent as little time as possible there these days. When she wasn’t sleeping or eating or in the library, Andromeda preferred the coziness of the Hufflepuffs’ basement common room, with its warm colors, overstuffed sofas, and exciting array of magical plants, to anything the Slytherin dungeon had to offer. Some of the younger students had stared at first, but Hufflepuff House’s reputation as the most welcoming in the school was well-earned, and visitors from other houses were not terribly uncommon there. Of course, most self-respecting Slytherins would rather jump in the lake than set foot in such a place, but right now Andromeda considered that a bonus.

She made her way down to breakfast where, to her delight, she found all three of her closest friends sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Ruth saw her first and waved to her, sliding over to make room on the bench across from Anwen and Delia. Just a few months ago the thought of joining them would have filled her with dread at what her fellow Slytherins would say, but now it felt like home. 

“Today’s the big day,” Ruth said, as Andy sat down and began heaping porridge onto her plate. Muggle-born Ruth Abbing had been one of Andy’s first friends at Hogwarts, and there had been times when it had felt like Ruth was her only friend in the world. She had a round face, pink cheeks, and very dark curls that she often wore in pigtails. 

Andy grinned at her. “Pass me the sausages?” she asked, and Ruth impatiently obliged. 

“Where will you go? Have you decided yet?”

“Just to The Three Broomsticks,” Andy said with a shrug, not quite managing to sound nonchalant.

“Good choice,” said Anwen, watching them with amusement as she twirled a strand of her long golden hair around her finger. Tall and muscular, Anwen Bevan played Chaser for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and was the favorite to become captain next year. “Madame Puddifoot’s is always full of kissing couples, hardly ideal for a first date. And you won’t want to go for a walk - it looks like rain.” She gestured up at the enchanted ceiling, where ominous grey clouds hung low in the sky. 

“Are you nervous?” Delia asked. The small, plain girl with her brown bob was the only one of Andromeda’s friends who might meet her parents’ standards of suitability. The Crouches were a very old pure-blood family with a great deal of influence in the Ministry, and the only fault the Blacks could possibly find with such an association was the fact that Delia’s brother was over thirty and had a small son - hardly a marriage prospect for any of their three daughters. Thankfully, Delia had none of her family’s snobbishness. 

“A bit,” Andy admitted, putting her spoon down at last. “I mean, we’ve never spent much time alone together before. But somehow whenever I think of him it’s hard to stay nervous.”

She blushed as this remark was met with a chorus of “aww”s from her friends, and concentrated on her breakfast once again, ducking her head to hide a smile. 

When they had all finished eating, the girls went to the library and spent a few hours studying quietly. After lunch, Andy returned to her dormitory to change clothes and put away her textbooks. The common room, she was relieved to find, was nearly empty; most of the first and second years were still in the Great Hall, and the older students had already left. 

The entrance hall was full of clusters of teenagers waiting for their friends to arrive before they left for Hogsmeade. Andy’s heart sank as she saw the knot of Slytherins gathered near the foot of the main staircase: a group of seventh years and a few sixth years, presided over by an attractive, dark-haired couple. Andy’s older sister Bellatrix leaned casually against her fiancé Rodolphus, a tall, stocky boy with tousled dark hair who had his arm around her waist. 

Andy continued down the stairs as quietly as she could, hoping to avoid their notice altogether, when Rodolphus happened to glance over his shoulder, his dark eyes meeting hers. Beside him, Bellatrix noticed that his attention was directed elsewhere and looked up as well. Her curious face instantly hardened into a cold stare, her eyes so full of scorn that Andy froze. Her heart began to pound, and suddenly she felt far too hot under her warm winter cloak. Face flushed, Andy turned sharply away and hurried down the stairs and in the opposite direction from Bella’s group. 

As she looked around for her friends, she spotted Ted not far away, talking to Edgar Bones and their Gryffindor friends Frank Longbottom and Alice Dobbs. He caught her eye and grinned at her, and she couldn’t help smiling back, the sick feeling melting away. There was no reason to be nervous - she was going on a date with someone she actually liked, someone whose very presence made her feel warmer and lighter. And no matter what happened today, it was a relief to know she would never have to go out with a boy her sisters had picked for her again. 

At last she saw Ruth, Anwen, and Delia standing together near the doors, bundled up in their cloaks and the pretty patterned sweaters Ruth had made them all for Christmas. As soon as they saw her they drew Andromeda into their circle. 

“Andy, you look darling!” cried Ruth, her dark curls bouncing with excitement. Andromeda smiled a little self-consciously. She wore her own Christmas sweater along with a skirt Ruth had lent her. It was dark blue and hung down to just past her knees, and the soft, heavy material swished pleasantly around her legs. She felt quite daring, wearing Muggle clothes at school. How she wished her mother could see her now. 

The four of them headed down to the village, linking arms for warmth and chattering briskly to distract themselves from the cold. From her place on the end, Andy held tightly to Ruth and listened to the other girls talk, glad simply to be in the company of friends who made her laugh. 

It began to rain just as they reached the main street of the village, so they ducked into Honeydukes to while away the time until Andromeda was supposed to meet Ted. Andy bought candy to send to her young cousins - Peppermint Toads for Sirius, Chocolate Frogs for Regulus - and a packet of toffees for herself. 

The downpour had slowed to a drizzle by the time they left, and with the hoods of their cloaks pulled up they hurried down the street towards The Three Broomsticks, dodging puddles and trying not to slip on the wet cobblestones. As they neared the entrance to the pub, Andy recognized the four figures sheltering in the doorway: Ted, Edgar, Alice, and Frank. Ted wore Muggle clothing, as he usually did in his leisure time. His dark grey coat highlighted his broad shoulders far better than a cloak would have, and untidy wisps of blond hair stuck out from  
under his knit cap. When he spotted her at last, his face lit up with one of those dazzling smiles that never failed to make Andy smile, too. 

Edgar had noticed them, too. “Ruth! Delia! Anwen!” he called, waving them down. Ted’s best friend was a handsome boy with reddish-brown hair and an aquiline nose, shorter than Ted and usually more serious. Today, however, he looked downright cheerful. “Care to join us? Alice needs new quills, so we’re going to stop in at Scrivenshaft’s. Give these two some time to themselves.” He nudged Ted, grinning, and Ted’s cheeks - already pink from the cold - turned red. 

“Alright,” Anwen said, “but I want to go to Spintwitches, too. I’m nearly out of broom handle polish.” She took Delia’s hand and bounded forward to join the others. Ruth followed them, turning to wave to Andromeda before falling into step with Edgar, and soon the whole group passed beyond the building and out of sight. 

Ted and Andromeda looked at each other for a moment, then Ted opened the door of the pub and held it open for her with an elaborate bow. “After you,” he said in the stuffiest accent he could manage. Andy giggled, then stepped into the noisy warmth of the pub. 

She went to the bar and ordered two Butterbeers, paying for them both before he could protest. What was the point of being from a wealthy family if you didn’t treat your friends? The knowledge that her parents would probably both drop dead from shock if they knew that their most marriageable daughter was going on a date with a Muggle-born would only make the drink taste sweeter. 

The Three Broomsticks was packed with students and townsfolk alike, but they found an empty table in a back corner, far enough from the center of the room to give them some semblance of privacy. Andy took off her damp cloak and shook out her hair, and Ted’s eyebrows rose. 

“You look nice, ‘Dromeda,” he said. Ted had been dropping the first syllable of her name for years, both to tease her and as a gesture of affection, but now hearing it in his deep voice made Andy blush. “Muggle clothes suit you.” 

She twirled around, showing off, feeling triumphant when she made him laugh. “The skirt is Ruth’s,” she admitted, grabbing the back of her chair to steady herself and sitting down. 

Ted removed his coat and hat and joined her. “Still, lose the cloak and you’d fit right in at one of my Mum’s parties. She’d love that sweater. You should come to Easter dinner, I’m sure you’d be a hit - my parents are always on about how I should bring my school friends to visit more often.” 

“I wish I could,” Andy said, imagining what her parents would say if she told them she wanted to spend a holiday at a Muggle house. “Your family sounds awfully nice, Ted.” 

He must have caught the wistful note in her voice, for the laughter in his face turned quickly to sympathetic concern. “Bellatrix still not speaking to you?” 

Andy shook her head, staring down into her mug. She hadn’t meant to talk about her family troubles on their first date, but Ted knew plenty about it already, and he was such a good listener.

“She’s barely said two words to me since I refused to stop spending time with you and Ruth,” she murmured. “Whenever we pass each other in the corridors she looks at me like I’m something nasty she just scraped off her shoe. Narcissa will still speak to me if we’re alone and I talk to her first, but when she’s with Bella or her friends she just walks by me like I’m not there. My own _sisters._ ” Andy sniffled, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Ted, I didn’t mean to get so upset.” 

Ted rummaged in his coat pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it to her. “’S all right,” he said, reaching out and patting her shoulder rather awkwardly. “I don’t mind. And you never know, one of these days they might come ‘round -” he stopped short, and a strange, guarded he expression she had never seen before spread across his face. It took her a moment to realize that he was looking up at something over her shoulder. 

“Hello, Andromeda,” said a cold, horribly familiar voice behind her. Andy whirled around in her chair and stared in horror, her worst fears confirmed. Rodolphus Lestrange looked down at her smugly, flanked by Bellatrix and a small crowd of their friends: Gary and Lavinia Selwyn, Rodolphus’s brother Rabastan, Darius Yaxley, Brendan Travers…Andy felt herself engulfed by an awful, pounding dread. 

_Go away, just go away,_ she thought desperately, but Rodolphus kept talking. “Get your filthy hand off her,” he snapped, glaring at Ted, who quickly removed his hand from Andy’s shoulder. His face was drawn and grim, and there was a genuine fear in his eyes. He knew as well as Andy did that Bella and her gang aspired to be followers of the Dark Lord, but while Andy’s blood status and family ties gave her some value in their eyes despite everything, they both knew that no such protections extended to Ted. To Rodolphus and Bellatrix, he was something less than human. 

“Really, Andromeda,” Lavinia said severely, “I know you’re going through a little rebellious phase, but we expected better of you.” Bellatrix said nothing, but Andy could tell from the stiffness of her face that she felt the same way. Bella had never been difficult to read, and few people could gauge her moods as well as her sisters.

“You’re a disgrace to the name of Black, girl,” Rodolphus said, turning his anger to Andy now. “You’ve brought shame to your sister, and to me. To think you threw over my brother,” he gestured to Rabastan, who continued to watch the conversation in wide-eyed silence, “for this _Mudblood._ ” 

Andy shot up, knocking her chair to the floor with a crash. Rodolphus reeled back in momentary shock. Andy ground her teeth, her whole body shaking with rage, and stepped forward, forcing him back. 

“Don’t you _dare_ use that word around me again, Rodolphus Lestrange. You’re an arrogant brute and I’m ashamed to call you family. And _you,_ ” she snarled, turning the full force of her glare onto Bellatrix, whose face had frozen into a mask of furious shock at her sister’s outburst, “if you’re going to stand there and let him say these things to me, your own _sister,_ then you deserve him. And not one of you is worthy of being in the same _room_ as Ted Tonks.” 

She snatched up her cloak and bag from the back of her chair and grabbed Ted’s hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Pulling him after her, she shoved her way past the gang of Slytherins and through the crowded pub, barely aware of the fact that the whole room had fallen silent during her outburst and was now watching her storm out. 

The air outside hit her like a splash of cold water to the face, bringing Andy back to herself with a jolt. She let go of Ted’s hand and began to run, desperate to get as far from the pub and Bellatrix as possible, heedless of the puddles until she slipped and fell. 

“Andromeda?” Ted caught up with her to find her in a sobbing heap on the wet street. In an instant he had helped Andy to her feet and pulled her into a warm hug, patting her hair in a soothing sort of way. Andy clung to his coat and wept; a small part of her was shocked at the intensity of her outburst, but most of her just felt thoroughly miserable. Her first date with a boy she actually liked and her family had still managed to ruin it in the most horrible way possible. 

“I - I’m so sorry,” she stammered between sobs, “I’m sorry they said those horrible things to you, it’s all my fault, if you hadn’t been out with me you wouldn’t have had to hear that, and I couldn’t even make them stop…”

“What are you talking about?” Ted sounded almost indignant. “You shut Lestrange right up - the bastard didn’t know what hit him.” 

“I only made them angry,” Andy insisted. “They might leave us alone for a while, but they won’t forget. Bella will never forget. And if we keep seeing each other, they’re going to do their best to make our lives miserable. Are you really willing to take that risk?” 

Ted pulled away from the hug and looked down at her, more serious than she had ever seen him. “I like you, ‘Dromeda. Very much. I think you’re one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, and you deserve better than that.” He jerked a thumb back in the direction of The Three Broomsticks. “Let’s not let their bullshit get to us, alright?”

Andy sniffled. “I like you very much too, Ted,” she said, her voice still shaking slightly. “I was really hoping this date would go well.” 

He pulled a small packet of brown paper out of his pocket and began unwrapping it. “Here,” he said, “have some toffee. I bought it at Honeydukes earlier - it’s your favorite, right?” 

That got a smile out of her at last. “Yes, please.” She put the piece of candy in her mouth and let it begin dissolving on her tongue. Somehow the rush of sweetness calmed her. 

“Want to go back to the castle? We could go to the Hufflepuff common room, warm up by the fire, and play Exploding Snap until Edgar and the others get back.” His smile was tentative, but warm, and Andy felt as if some of the weight had been lifted from her chest. 

She slipped her hand back into Ted’s, and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”


End file.
